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Neil Jordan’s ‘Marlowe’: Liam Neeson And Diane Kruger Feature To Debut At San Sebastian

The Official Selection of the San Sebastian Festival will close with the world premiere of Marlowe, the latest film by Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan. The film will debut on September 24 at the Kursaal Auditorium with the film’s stars Liam Neeson and Diane Kruger in attendance. Based on the novel The Black Eyed Blonde by John Banville, the film is set in 1930s Los Angeles and follows private eye Philip Marlowe (Neeson) as he receives a commission to find the missing lover of a beautiful heiress. The film is produced by Alan Moloney, Gary Levinsohn, Mark Fasano, Billy Hines, Philip Kim, and Patrick Hibler. Shot in Barcelona and Dublin, the film is a co-production between Parallel Films, Hills Productions, and Davis Films, with support from Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland.

ITV Studios France Names New...

Locarno 2021 Golden Leopard Winner

The 74th edition of the Locarno Film Festival came to a close over the weekend, with Indonesian film director Edwin scooping the Golden Leopard in the International Competition with Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash. Elsewhere in the International Competition, the Golden Leopard for Best Direction went to Abel Ferrara for Zeroes And Ones, while Qiu Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play won the Special Jury Prize. Best Actress went to Anastasiya Krasovskaya for Gerda, while Best Actor was shared by Mohamed Mellali and Valero Escolar from The Odd-Job Men. Special mentions went to Soul Of A Beast and Espiritu Sagrado.

Venice Completes Line-Up

Venice Film Festival finalized its line-up today with the addition of three titles. They are: Graziano Conversano’s 52-minute documentary Ricostruire insieme – Biennale Architettura, which looks at the themes, works and figures of the 2021 Biennale architecture festival; Nastia Korkia’s docGes – 2, a visual reflection upon the project by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop to renovate a former power plant in the centre of Moscow; and finally, Antonello Sarno’s Pietro Il Grande, a tribute to photojournalist Pietro Coccia, who died in 2018.

Gerda Review — Gerda (2021) Film Review from the 74th Annual Locarno Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Natalya Kudryashova, starring Anastasiya Krasovaskaya, Yuriy Borisov, Yulia Marchenko, and Darius Gumauskas. Selflessness is an admirable trait, but not at the expense of one’s own sanity. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury to put themselves first, even for a [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Gerda: Relentless Russian Realism With Flourishes of Fantasy [Locarno 2021]...

Gerda Review — Gerda (2021) Film Review from the 74th Annual Locarno Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Natalya Kudryashova, starring Anastasiya Krasovaskaya, Yuriy Borisov, Yulia Marchenko, and Darius Gumauskas. Selflessness is an admirable trait, but not at the expense of one’s own sanity. Unfortunately, not everyone has the luxury to put themselves first, even for a [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Gerda: Relentless Russian Realism With Flourishes of Fantasy [Locarno 2021]...

Given that, after its shuttered 2020 edition, the 74th Locarno Film Festival’s ident features a prowling, growling, resurgent leopard and the distinctly tumescent tagline “Cinema is Back” it’s somewhat ironic that the festival’s top prize should go to a film about erectile dysfunction.

In other ways, however, Indonesian director Edwin’s fabulously if nonsensically titled “Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash” is perhaps the ideal Golden Leopard winner, in what is a strange year for the world, and a strange year for the Swiss festival, which is finding its footing under the new artistic direction of Giona A. Nazzaro.

As an admixture of several distinctly populist genres that still, as Variety critic Jay Weissberg noted, uses impotence as a metaphor “to make a broader critique of a toxic culture that puts so much emphasis on virility,” the film is among the best exemplars of Nazzaro’s avowed...

As the 2021 Locarno Film Festival rounds its final bend, sales deals were still coming through.

In one such pact, San Sebastian New Directors title “That Weekend” has been snapped up by leading Italian sales-production shingle The Open Reel. A debut feature from director Mara Pescio, the film tells the story of Julia who returns to the neighborhood she left years ago to recover money she hid in her home. The reunion prompts a life-changing confrontation with her daughter.

The film is an Argentina-Brazil co-production hailing from Maravillacine, Murillo Cine, Santiago Carabante and Persona Non Grata Pictures. Variety previously spoke with Pescio about her making her directorial bow.

In other late Locarno dealing, Compañia de Cine, a Buenos Aires-based boutique sales operation, announced it had taken world rights to “Mostro,” which world premiered Aug. 11 in Locarno Cineasti del Presente.

Also, Mad Solutions signed all sales and distribution rights for Arab-speaking countries...

The film is written and directed by Natalya Kudryashova.

French sales agent Kinology has agreed a deal with Moscow-based distributor and production company Central Partnership to handle international sales on Russian drama Gerda, which receives its premiere in the international competition at this year’s Locarno Film Festival (August 4-14).

Written and directed by Natalya Kudryashova, Gerda is about a young woman named Lera who is trying to escape the constraints of her provincial life. A sociology student by day, she works in a local strip joint by night to support herself and her mother, who suffers from a mental disorder.